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International Encyclopedia of Civil Society pp 1–9Cite as

Civil Society and Social Capital in the Middle East

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Definition

For its lack of a singular conceptual construct, the notion of civil society is even more complex and fervently contested among scholars and academicians when it relates to the Middle East. The Middle East here refers to the Arab East or “Mashreq,” the Gulf Region or “Khaleeg,” and several of North African countries or “Maghreb” (Hudson 1976, p. 483). Depending on what conceptual lenses one uses when looking at civil society and social capital in the Middle East, one can see them with different forms, actors, and dynamics. The conceptual lenses of Cohen and Arato (1992), for instance, can be used to compose civil society of all the actors that comprises the terrain between the state and individuals. But broader boundaries for civil society can be drawn with the lenses of Hawthorne (2004, p. 3) as the zone of voluntary associative life beyond family and clan affiliations. The definition of social capital, on the other hand, is derived from Putnam (2000) as the connections...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Development Services, Cairo, Egypt

    Alaa Saber

Authors
  1. Alaa Saber
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Correspondence to Alaa Saber .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Regina A. List

  2. Hertie School of Governance, Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Helmut K. Anheier

  3. Schar school, George Mason University, ARLINGTON, VI, USA

    Stefan Toepler

Section Editor information

  1. Hamburg, Germany

    Regina A. List

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Saber, A. (2020). Civil Society and Social Capital in the Middle East. In: List, R., Anheier, H., Toepler, S. (eds) International Encyclopedia of Civil Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99675-2_728-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99675-2_728-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-99675-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-99675-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Social SciencesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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